April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[Fatimetta]

Oooh! I saw the winners announced today! So happy for you! I think we follow each other on Instagram.

I bet we do! I was so surprised! I never win ANY contest I enter.... like ever. Can’t even win $2 at the casino

 

[AltonaAcres]

I ordered 3 Pavlovskayas, 3 Swedish flowers, 6 marans, and 6 Ameraucanas. Should be here on tuesday or wednesday then I'll set them

 

[Pennys Mama]

Hello everyone! I am joining your hatch-a-long. I won my first incubator ever and it's coming on Wednesday. It's a brinsea mini advance II. Seems pretty straightforward... is there anything particular I should know about it? I'm super nervous to try hatching eggs in an incubator- I've always given them to the broodies! I won 8 eggs along with it that will be a mix of some colorful egg layers it sounds like. I am picking them up - so not shipped. Yay! I said I was done for the year with hatches, but if you win a contest, you win a contest! The eggs are actually from Highland Homestead I might have many questions to ask you experts here!

Should I leave the incubator to sit for awhile before I start it up? Would you recommend buying a hygrometer with this incubator and which kind? The incubator holds 7 eggs it says, but I'm getting 8. Can I stick the extra one in there somewhere?

I'm excited to see all your hatches! I'll attach some pictures of my "last" chicks I bought a few days ago. Supposedly a Rhode Island Blue, Sapphire Gem Splash, and a Barred Rock. Never heard of the first two before.

You gotta have an independent calibrated thermometer & hygrometer, just ask @Kiki . Ask questions as you need, along the way, we're all willing to share our own experiences. First hatch is always a learning experience. Good luck!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Welp. I set 36 eggs tonight. Easter egger/ameraucanas (mix of both).

I meant to set eggs over the winter. But I didn't.

So I guess I'm here! Wish me luck.

 

[Phillyndilly]

I think it’s supposed to be 11-13% over the course of 18 days, so that’s between .61-.72% per day. And definitely do the method of averaging the total weight and the weight loss across the whole group. Don’t worry about each egg losing the exact amount it should - make sure the group as a whole is on target. I didn’t realize that that first time I weighed eggs and drove myself insane because my Marans eggs weren’t losing enough and my Ameraucana eggs too much so eventually I had to find a middle ground.

Haha oh ok that’s good to hear because I was def not looking forward to weighing every single egg again. Okay sounds good. Also I’m terrible at math so anyone who wants to check this I would greatly appreciate.

So as you said .61-.72 per day so.. I’m going to use .66 since it’s kind of in the middle.
So by day 9- 5.94% loss
Day 18- 11.8% loss
Or a little higher but just round about

God I am so bad at math lol..

 

[FortCluck]

Haha oh ok that’s good to hear because I was def not looking forward to weighing every single egg again. Okay sounds good. Also I’m terrible at math so anyone who wants to check this I would greatly appreciate.

So as you said .61-.72 per day so.. I’m going to use .66 since it’s kind of in the middle.
So by day 9- 5.94% loss
Day 18- 11.8% loss
Or a little higher but just round about

God I am so bad at math lol..

Look at the air cell instead, it's better than weighing the eggs. I think pulling eggs out and weighing them all the time would do more harm than candling on day 7, 14, and 18.

 

[FortCluck]

I'm getting more eggs soon from a friend so hopefully I can get them this weekend so they can be part of this hatch a long.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hello everyone! I am joining your hatch-a-long. I won my first incubator ever and it's coming on Wednesday. It's a brinsea mini advance II. Seems pretty straightforward... is there anything particular I should know about it? I'm super nervous to try hatching eggs in an incubator- I've always given them to the broodies! I won 8 eggs along with it that will be a mix of some colorful egg layers it sounds like. I am picking them up - so not shipped. Yay! I said I was done for the year with hatches, but if you win a contest, you win a contest! The eggs are actually from Highland Homestead I might have many questions to ask you experts here!

Should I leave the incubator to sit for awhile before I start it up? Would you recommend buying a hygrometer with this incubator and which kind? The incubator holds 7 eggs it says, but I'm getting 8. Can I stick the extra one in there somewhere?

I'm excited to see all your hatches! I'll attach some pictures of my "last" chicks I bought a few days ago. Supposedly a Rhode Island Blue, Sapphire Gem Splash, and a Barred Rock. Never heard of the first two before.

Whoo hoo! Congrats on your win!

You don't need to allow you incubator to sit before running it but I would run it for a while before setting eggs in it to make sure you have all of the kinks worked out and everything running consistently.
You'll definitely want a secondary thermometer/hygrometer. It's a very small incubator so you'll need a small one.
You can't squeeze any extra eggs into the Brinsea Mini II Advance because of the way it's designed. It's a little desktop sized incubator but it runs very consistent temps in my experience.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Haha oh ok that’s good to hear because I was def not looking forward to weighing every single egg again. Okay sounds good. Also I’m terrible at math so anyone who wants to check this I would greatly appreciate.

So as you said .61-.72 per day so.. I’m going to use .66 since it’s kind of in the middle.
So by day 9- 5.94% loss
Day 18- 11.8% loss
Or a little higher but just round about

God I am so bad at math lol..

This is what my last Silkie hatch looked like to give you an idea. I had a 100% hatch. These were my notes to myself. I'm more accustomed to watching air cell development myself but whatever each individual finds works best for them is what you should keep doing! Good luck!

Weighing and comparing Silkie bantam egg weight to air cell size

• Eggs should lose 11-13% during first 18 days of incubation
• Between 0.6-0.7% per day average
• Measured final weight loss as 8am on day 18

Egg 1 – Day (0) 37 grams – Day (7) 36 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 33 grams – LOST 10.81%

Egg 2 – Day 0 – 37 grams - INFERTILE

Egg 3 – Day (0) 37 grams – Day (7) 35 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 33 grams – LOST 10.81%

Egg 4 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 37 grams – Day (15) 35 grams – Day (18) 35 grams – LOST 10.25%

Egg 5 – Day (0) 37 grams – Day (7) 36 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 33 grams – LOST 10.81%

Egg 6 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 38 grams – Day (15) 36 grams – Day (18) 35 grams – LOST 10.25%

Egg 7 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 36 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 34 grams – LOST 12.82%

Egg 8 – Day (0) 38 grams – Day (7) 37 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 33 grams – LOST 13.15%

Egg 9 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 38 grams – Day (15) 36 grams – Day (18) 35 grams – LOST 10.25%

Egg 10 – Day (0) 38 grams – Day (7) 36 grams – Day (15) 35 grams – Day (18) 34 grams – LOST 10.52%

Egg 11 – Day (0) 34 grams – Day (7) 33 grams – Day (15) 30 grams – Day (18) 29 grams – LOST 11.76%

Egg 12 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 37 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 34 grams – LOST 12.82%

 

[FortCluck]

This is what my last Silkie hatch looked like to give you an idea. I had a 100% hatch. These were my notes to myself. I'm more accustomed to watching air cell development myself but whatever each individual finds works best for them is what you should keep doing! Good luck!

Weighing and comparing Silkie bantam egg weight to air cell size

• Eggs should lose 11-13% during first 18 days of incubation
• Between 0.6-0.7% per day average
• Measured final weight loss as 8am on day 18

Egg 1 – Day (0) 37 grams – Day (7) 36 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 33 grams – LOST 10.81%

Egg 2 – Day 0 – 37 grams - INFERTILE

Egg 3 – Day (0) 37 grams – Day (7) 35 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 33 grams – LOST 10.81%

Egg 4 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 37 grams – Day (15) 35 grams – Day (18) 35 grams – LOST 10.25%

Egg 5 – Day (0) 37 grams – Day (7) 36 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 33 grams – LOST 10.81%

Egg 6 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 38 grams – Day (15) 36 grams – Day (18) 35 grams – LOST 10.25%

Egg 7 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 36 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 34 grams – LOST 12.82%

Egg 8 – Day (0) 38 grams – Day (7) 37 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 33 grams – LOST 13.15%

Egg 9 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 38 grams – Day (15) 36 grams – Day (18) 35 grams – LOST 10.25%

Egg 10 – Day (0) 38 grams – Day (7) 36 grams – Day (15) 35 grams – Day (18) 34 grams – LOST 10.52%

Egg 11 – Day (0) 34 grams – Day (7) 33 grams – Day (15) 30 grams – Day (18) 29 grams – LOST 11.76%

Egg 12 – Day (0) 39 grams – Day (7) 37 grams – Day (15) 34 grams – Day (18) 34 grams – LOST 12.82%

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Seeing all of this math and everything, makes my head hurt.

I feel like incubating shouldn't be such a hard process. I don't even do anything like this, but I don't deal with other people's eggs.

I know the quality of my eggs and they're like gold to me especially with 90% hatch rates.

Does doing all this math truly give you a better hatch rate?